Spread Dafa in UK Universities

1. UMIST (University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology), Manchester

A Falun Gong The Real Story Documentary Video presentation took place on 11th October and was repeated on 14th October.

Prior to the presentation, practitioners in the area worked very hard on the preparations, which involved preparing the display posters, informing all the student organizations on campus, informing all the students (a couple of thousand) at UMIST through email, informing most of the lecturers, the head of each department, senior lecturers and professors by using staff email list and writing letters. We booked a booth at the Fresher's day and delivered around 1000 leaflets. We have also targeted some nearby universities by putting display posters up on their campuses. We have reached the Chinese student communities by sending the message to their website. We have informed all the councilors in Manchester, Salford, Stockport, Bolton and Macclesfield boroughs by writing invitation letters and sending booklets etc. Two days before the presentation, we contacted around twenty media agents (obtained the details from Yellow Pages) by faxing them invitations, which were drafted by the Falun Dafa UK Info Centre. We also sent invitations to seven bishops and archdeacons of the local Church of England.

Although not many people attended the presentation, we felt it was still a success. After all, we have gotten a message through to thousands of people. We of course learned lots of things from this event. The most important one is that we should not pre-judge these activities using our own concepts, but simply try our best to do it well. The result is not that important but the process of doing it and providing the opportunity to all people is more important. In addition, we found out that event like this needs to be well planned and given enough time so as to be convenient for prospective attendees. Advertising is extremely important such as producing large quantities of the display posters).

2. East Asian Research Society (EARS), Leeds University

I was contacted by the chairman of the EARS in Leeds in June this year asking whether I could give a talk on Falun Gong. At the time, I suggested to play the Falun Dafa the Real Story video presentation to her and she was very keen on that. The date was made on 18th October, 2000.

EARS is the leading student forum for discussion and research of East Asia in the UK today. It has been bringing the countries leading academics and Asian Experts together with students for over 10 years to promote discussion and understanding of current East Asian issues. I was the first guest speaker for this new term. The president of the EARS told me that they had made 200 posters and put them around the campus.

There were approximately 40 people came to the presentation. Most of them were Caucasians and could speak Chinese quite fluently. Quite a lot them had lived and studied in China for a year already! There were a few Chinese people there as well. I was surprised to know that the two presidents of the society were all in China when Falun Gong was outlawed in China last July, one was in Tian Jin city and the other one was in Beijing.

I showed the real story one and two there. Between the videos, I asked the audience whether we needed a short break. Quite a few of them said they wanted to carry on watching the next one. So we didn't have a break. All of them watched the videos diligently. We started the question and answer session straight after the video showing. Many questions were asked and the discussion lasted just over 25 minutes. After the presentation, A few people came to me and asked where the class was held in Leeds.

I brought quite a lot of materials such as leaflets, Peaceful Journey booklets, real story newspapers (in Chinese) and other relevant flyers. Most of them were gone after the session and people particularly took a lot of the newspaper in Chinese since they could read and write Chinese . I was very glad and thought that those materials will benefit many people. I was also glad that I didn't need to carry the heavy luggage now .

The next day, three audience members came to our practice site in Leeds to learn Falun Gong exercise.